The ambassadors will assist the NCDIA in achieving its mission to promote natural fancy colour diamonds and educate the broader jewellery industry and consumers about their unique traits and appeal.
Alan Bronstein, president NCDIA, said, “In our effort to show a vision of leadership for the future of the most extraordinary natural gemstones, the Natural Color Diamond Association is proud to announce that we are building a ‘United Nations’ of ambassadors in strategic locations around the world to promote the desire, the beauty and passion that natural colour diamonds create.
“Our philosophy, transparency, education and collaborations with our sister trade groups, labs, and the media gives us the ability and strength to provide the service and the right knowledge and information about natural colour diamonds.”
The new ambassadors are:
- Hong Kong and Asia: Ephraim Zion – trained diamond cutter, founder of high-end jewellery manufacturer Dehres, and a former governor of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA)
- Singapore: John Glajz – founder of jewellery brand Glajz, Argyle Partner, and former managing director Mondial Jewelers
- Switzerland: Matthew Aldridge – director of diamond and colour gemstone trading business Gemcut and Argyle Partner
- Italy: Marco Pocaterra – director of diamond cutting and polishing business Diamwill and CEO diamond trading business Diamond Love Bond
Explaining the role of NCDIA ‘ambassador’ in terms of retail jewellers, Pocaterra said, “From my experience, Italy remains fertile for education and sales of fancy natural colour diamonds... Their beauty and desirability are strongly underexposed to the public. The consequence is that Italian jewellers do not create revenues with these extraordinary and incomparable gems. I am committed to help them inspire their customers and take the opportunity to have new attractive sales conversations.”
Pocaterra, Zion, Glajz and Aldridge will join the NCDIA’s existing ‘ambassadors’, London-based Yves Frey, director Yves Frey Diamonds, and Henry Ho, chairman Asian Institute of Gemological Sciences, who is located in Bangkok.
In addition to the new ‘ambassadors’, the NCDIA has also appointed diamond market analyst Robert Bouquet to its team. Based in Antwerp, Bouquet – who has more than 25 years of experience working across the diamond industry – will provide insights and reports on the international diamond ‘pipeline’ and how trends in supply and demand impact the jewellery industry.
Australia is the world’s premier source for pink diamonds, with 90–95 per cent of global supply sourced from the Argyle Mine in Western Australia, which is due to close at the end of 2020. The once-dormant Ellendale Mine, also in Western Australia, recently made headlines with the discovery of unusual yellow diamonds which fluoresce purple.
Natural fancy colour diamond prices have outpaced colourless 'white' diamonds over the past 10 years, with data from the Fancy Color Research Foundation indicating prices for pink diamonds alone increased by 116 per cent.
Henry Ho
Bangkok ambassador NCDIA | 
Ephraim Zion
HK & Asia ambassador NCDIA | 
Yves Frey
London ambassador NCDIA |
Matthew Aldridge
Switzerland ambassador NCDIA | 
John Glajz
Singapore ambassador NCDIA | 
Marco Pocaterra
Italy ambassador NCDIA |
More reading:
Rare colour diamonds found at Ellendale site
Pink diamond prices increase 116 per cent
Colour diamonds: the fairest of them all
Fighting for the hearts and minds of diamond desire